Reincarnation Curse
The Reincarnation Curse binds the soul of a deceased person to a living vessel, restoring them as they were when they were alive in order to do their summoner's bidding. It was created by Gentle Light. It is the dark counterpart of the Reincarnation Blessing. Overview Usage Before this curse can be performed, the user must first acquire some of the DNA of the person they intend to reincarnate. Gentle Light remarks that this basically amounts to grave-robbing, although any piece of the body also work. The soul of the intended reincarnated must also reside in the afterlife they are sent to; souls that are not there or are protected cannot be reincarnated. A living sacrifice is also required for the reincarnated soul to use as a vessel. To actually perform the Reincarnation Curse, the DNA of the person to be reincarnated is smeared by magic that is then directed to the sacrifice. Once it gets in there, the caster enacts the curse. Then dust and ash encase the sacrifice's body, giving them the same appearance that the reincarnated had at the time of their death; the process is apparently painful for the sacrifice. The sacrifice's energy signature is completely overridden with the chakra of the one being reincarnated. Although the sacrifice is still technically alive so long as the curse is active, their body will never again be theirs and the body will die when the reincarnated soul is released. Then they have full control over the reincarnated beings. Reincarnations can be mobilised like standard infantry, where they must travel to their destination. Alternatively, coffins that contain them can be summoned to a location. Reincarnations can be recalled in a similar way, with a coffin emerging around them to take them back. Control The only discretion a user needs to exercise for the Reincarnation Curse is how much control to exert over the reincarnated soul. After first performing it the user is only able to restrict their movements. In general, this limited control is not an issue for the summoner, and they will typically "deactivate" the reincarnation, placing them in a coffin for storage and transportation until they're needed. The control is made after enacting the curse, subdueing the soul completely. However, when the Reincarnation Curse is used to revive somebody, there comes a possibility that they will be strong enough to resist this control. Because of this, the control have two phases: *At its most basic, the reincarnated souls retain their personality, giving them the freedom to approach a given task however they like so long as it broadly carries out the summoner's bidding. On the one hand, this makes them more useful in combat because they know how best to use their own abilities and, if deployed against somebody they knew when they were alive, there is a possibility for psychological warfare. On the other hand, although they are compelled to do as their summoner wishes and act without reluctance, they can undermine their summoner to a degree, either by making poor decisions that opponents can take advantage of or by giving opponents advice about how to defeat them; *At its strongest level, the reincarnated soul's personality is entirely eliminated. The summoner instead controls all of their actions, even permitting them to speak through the reincarnation or summon other reincarnated souls to their location. Although this guarantees the reincarnated soul will only ever act as desired, they are less resourceful and it requires the summoner's attention for every action that must be taken, making it difficult for them to multi-task depending on the circumstances. Attributes When first summoned, the body will appear grey and in a state of minor decay: marred by cracks and other imperfections. If the summoner chooses to, they can rejuvenate the reincarnation, restoring their complexion and reducing some of the imperfections; this is merely aesthetic and the signs of decay do not inhibit their abilities. An unavoidable characteristic of a reincarnated body is the darkened sclerae, with a soul that retains its personality having grey sclerae and a soul with a suppressed personality having black sclerae. A reincarnated individual will have all the abilities they had during their life. They are psychically restored as they were at the time of their death, including any physical handicaps they may have possessed. Exceptions exist: illnesses they had will not be preserved, nor will any physical damage that contributed to their death. If the reincarnated souls were using cloaths of some kind at the time of their death, they will be reproduced. Despite being largely the same as they were while alive, the reincarnated can never be as powerful. Enhancements One of the major benefits of the Impure World Reincarnation is that it grants immortal bodies to those who are reincarnated. Any damage they receive will regenerate in time and, assuming the damage is not too debilitating, they can continue attacking even before their body recovers. A second benefit is the limitless refilling of their diminished energy reserves that the reincarnated individuals have access to; they can fight eternally and perform ordinarily physically demanding or energy-intensive moves without issue, knowing their current reserves will infinitely refill. Countering Killing the user does not release the Reincarnation Curse, and in fact that can be considered inadvisable. Having in count that only the General of Death is the only one known to use the curse, that is something that cannot be done. There are only two known guaranteed ways to end the curse: *Have the user end the curse. *A less reliable, though equally effective method is to have the reincarnated soul be affected in some emotional way that gives them closure, allowing their soul to break free of the Reincarnation Curse's influence. When a soul is released from the Reincarnation Curse, their body disintegrates back into dust and the sacrifice's corpse will be left lying in the debris. The soul may linger briefly - with their personality restored if it was being suppressed - to leave parting words or take final actions. Even if the Reincarnation Curse cannot be broken conventionally, reincarnated bodies can still be neutralised. The method of binding the reincarnations' bodies so that they can't move and then placing a seal on the bindings so that they no longer pose a threat. Appearances Legends: *Y - Appears and have an active role *N - Do not appears and is not mentioned directly by the characters. *B - Appears, but have a passive role or its appearance is implicit *M - Mentioned directly by the characters. Category:Magic Category:Curses